62 YEARS FOR DRUGS GANG
SEVEN JAILED FOR THEIR PART IN OPERATION WHICH RAN DRUGS BETWEEN LONDON AND CARDIFF AND HAD ‘SIGNIFICANT IMPACT’ ON SOUTH WALES COMMUNITIES
A SOPHISTICATED drugs operation was busted when police confronted a driver at a motorway service station and discovered a £450,000 cocaine haul.
The high-purity cocaine was part of a gang’s operation to supply drugs from London to Cardiff.
As their network “unravelled” police discovered cannabis farms and also seized a live handgun and £72,000 in cash.
The seven conspirators in what police called a “sophisticated and lucrative criminal operation” were jailed for a total of 62 and a half years at Newport Crown Court on Friday.
An earlier trial had heard officers recovered 2kg of the Class A drug cocaine at 80% purity after confronting driver Stuart Jarman at Membury Services on the M4 on March 15.
That was described in court as the group’s ninth drugs run.
Police searched his van and found a blue plastic bag behind the driver’s seat.
There was a red plastic bag inside, containing a pack wrapped in brown tape.
Subsequent analysis revealed the pack contained 2kg of cocaine at 80% purity with a street value of £450,000.
Jarman’s arrest by South Wales Police’s organised crime unit led officers to six other gang members – as well as a large-scale cannabis factory in Ammanford and another in Waunarlwyd, Swansea, while they also seized an illegally-held live handgun.
Five of the group were sentenced after they were convicted of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs:
Stuart Jarman, 41, of Garden City, Rhymney, was jailed for six years;
Lec Gjoka, 42, of Greenwich, London, was jailed for 14 years;
Jason Theobold, 42, of Hill Street, Rhymney, was jailed for 10 years;
Lyndon Evans, 37, of Wind Street, Ammanford, was jailed for nine years, and;
John Knight, 36, of Pleasant Street,
Pentre, was jailed for 18 years, having been described by Judge Eleri Rees as the “head” of the operation.
The judge said she took the view that Theobold was the “trusted lieutenant” to Knight, who frequently gave direction to the gang and made several trips to London to trade directly with Gjoka.
Evans and Knight had also admitted a separate charge of conspiring to supply cannabis, alongside Anthony Vobe, 41, of Garnant, Ammanford, who was jailed for three years for conspiracy to supply cannabis.
A seventh defendant, Richard Phillips, 51, of Barnabas Close, Waunarlwydd, Swansea, was jailed for two and a half years after he pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm while banned from doing so due to previous convictions, and conspiracy to produce cannabis. It was at his farm that officers located the firearm and one cannabis factory.
The second cannabis factory was located in Ammanford and – at the time of being raided – had the potential to net the gang a further estimated £70,000.
Acting Detective Inspector Steve Gardner said: “Today’s sentencing is the result of a long-term investigation into the organised supply of Class A and Class B controlled drugs by offenders who, despite the majority residing outside of the South Wales force area, were having a significant impact upon the communities of South Wales.
“This crime group was organised, calculated, extremely profitable and had no regard for the communities that their drugs would be sold in.
“South Wales Police is committed to tackling those who supply controlled drugs and will use all tactics available to keep our communities safe.
“We will investigate offenders far and wide if they are impacting upon our communities and preying upon the most vulnerable within them.”